Re: predicates as verbs

This entire discussion is absurd. "Verb" is a grammatical category.  
"Relation" is a semantic category. In English, virtually any relation  
can be expressed using a verb phrase, and almost any verb-described  
action can also be nominalized. So by all means, if it makes you feel  
better, express your RDF or logical content using verbs. Or, if you  
prefer, use nominalized expressions. It makes no - literally, NO -  
difference to the meaning of the RDF.

BTW, the cupola "is", while technically (grammatically) a verb, can be  
used to predicate almost any property of any thing. The sentence "My  
cat is black" has a verb in it, as required by the English grammatical  
rules (btw, the ones you and I learned in village school are almost  
all wrong), but its logical form is a simple predication:  
Black(myCat), which has no verb-like entity in it anywhere. Most  
simple facts are like this.

Pat Hayes


On Jul 1, 2010, at 12:03 PM, Bernard Vatant wrote:

> Hi Henry
>
> I guess we should not confuse the grammatical kind of the natural  
> language term used to label the predicate, which is not necessarily  
> a verb
>
> :myCat   :color   :black               (noun)
> :myCat   :hasColor   :black         (verb)
> :myCat   :colored  :black            (adjective)
>
> ... with the underlying semantics of the triple : a sentence in  
> which the predicate is in the verb position and carries more or less  
> explicitly the function of a verb
> And I think this is the point of Paola question.
>
> The label used, if it's not a verb, is most of the time (always?) a  
> shortcut (ellipse) for a more verbose (verbal) form, even in your  
> example
>
>
> (2 2) plus 4.
>
> is a shortcut for
>
>  (2 2)  'has result by addition'  4
>
> or any other similar expression using "yields" "gives", whatever ...
>
> I don't see any predicate making sense which cannot be expanded in  
> natural language into a verbal expression, at least in languages I  
> know of, close to english in their use of verbal forms. French does  
> not differ on this.
> A triple is an assertion. Verbs are the natural way to make  
> assertions. At least that's what I've be taught in my village school  
> in France back in the 50's. "A well-formed sentence contains a verb."
> Granted that was the time of ink and quills, but ...
>
> Cheers
>
> Bernard
>
>
> -- 
> Bernard Vatant
> Senior Consultant
> Vocabulary & Data Engineering
> Tel:       +33 (0) 971 488 459
> Mail:     bernard.vatant@mondeca.com
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> Mondeca
> 3, cité Nollez 75018 Paris France
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> Blog:    http://mondeca.wordpress.com
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